The UK and Gibraltar share a unique relationship as they enjoy mutual passporting rights with each other. This special passporting arrangement allows UK and Gibraltar financial services firms carrying on regulated activities to passport their services into one another’s jurisdiction or establish a branch. In essence, Gibraltar is the only jurisdiction globally to have direct market access to the UK, and vice versa.
These passporting arrangements are currently in effect until the 31 December 2024. It is, however, expected that the current passporting arrangements will be replaced by the Gibraltar Authorisation Regime (“GAR”), outlined in the UK’s Financial Services Act 2021. Although the GAR is not yet in force, and there is no confirmed date for its implementation, it is intended to serve as a permanent market access arrangement for UK and Gibraltar financial services firms going forward.
The existing passport rights were originally established by the UK’s Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Gibraltar) Order 2001. Following Brexit, the UK Government and the Government of Gibraltar agreed to reciprocal market access for UK and Gibraltar financial services firms to continue. This led to the implementation of the passporting arrangements in place today which were enacted by the UK's Financial Services (Gibraltar) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 and the Gibraltar Financial Services (Passport Rights and Transitional Provisions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020.
Eligible firms, such as authorised electronic money institutions and authorised payment institutions, seeking to passport their services or establish a branch will need to adhere to specific processes, including submitting notifications to the relevant regulatory authority and paying the required fees.
This information is not intended to provide legal advice and should not be relied upon. For more information on passporting and the relevant notification process, feel free to contact me hannah.lopez@hassans.gi.
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